Businessweek Archives

A Guerrilla Strike on All Possible Targets

October 26, 2005

Crafting an effective guerilla-marketing campaign requires reaching out to three critical targets and carefully allocating the proper amount of marketing resources to each.

Your first target market is your universe — everybody in your geographic area, regardless of how well they fit your customer profile. Though it’s largest of the three, it will generate the least profits for your company. If you’re thinking sanely, you will invest 10% of your marketing budget communicating your message to these people. Despite the low return, they’re too important to overlook, regardless of what’s happening right now. Things and people change, and marketing messages grow stronger when nurtured over time.

Your second target market are those potential customers within your universe who fit your customer profile. They have the right demographics, psychographics, income, and proclivity to buy. And they have the kind of problems you can solve — or the kind of goals you can help them achieve. This market will generate substantial, though not gold-medal, profits. Thinking clearly, you should be investing 30% of your marketing budget talking to these people — those on the threshold of purchasing who need you to nudge them a little, or maybe even a lot.

Your third target market is your current customer base. Though it’s the teeny-tiniest of your markets, it can and should generate by far the highest profits for your company. Guerrilla marketers happily invest 60% of their marketing budget talking to these wonderful, special, tasteful, discriminating people.